1 Corinthians 6:19,20
"...... You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."
Derek Prince in his book "Entering the presence of God" said few Christians realize that God wants our entire bodies just like how the bodies of the animals that were slain were placed entirely upon the altar. The only exception as compared to the tabernacle days is that He wants us not dead but alive.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 clearly tells me I am not my own. Imagine, I am not our own..... but I live life the way I think fit, according to my own rushed wisdom or what I desire. This was one part of my life I know now that I was not following Jesus. I really thought it was alright to sweep some words of God under the carpet. It is no wonder I landed into so much trouble. I am sorry Lord.
May the following devotion from www.seedofthekingdom.com bless you today. :)
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Partial Obedience is Disobedience!
“So God said to Noah . . . make yourself an ark . . . this is how you are to build it. The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high . ..”
from Genesis 6:13-15, NIV
God not only asked Noah to build a boat, but gave him very precise instructions about the size of the vessel and how the ark was to be built. It was to be a vessel with a very specific purpose which would be large enough to take on board the biggest floating menageries the world has ever seen – either before or since!
Now, when Noah heard God speaking to him he could easily have said “Yes, Lord, I’ll build a boat – but I think you must have got the design a bit wrong, I think it would be best if I made a few alterations to the plans!” So Noah might have set to work to build a vessel and done it, in Frank Sinatra style, ‘My Way!’ And when the boat was finished it turned out to be a magnificent pleasure yacht for him and his family! Noah would have been totally obedient to God by building a boat, but completely disobedient to God by building the boat to his own design instead of God’s.
When the flood came, and God told him to gather on board the vessel two of every animal under the sun, Noah’s pleasure craft would have proved woefully inadequate for the task. His partial obedience would have destroyed God’s plan. It would have been no good Noah protesting to God that at least he built a boat – it would have been sinful disobedience.
When you read the stories of the Kings of Judah and Israel you find many short comments about their lives. One of which says that “Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly” (2 Chronicles 25:2) Eventually Amaziah turned away from the Lord and finally he lost his life in tragic circumstances! For him partial obedience was an unmitigated disaster.
It’s vital that when God speaks to us and shows us from His Word the way to live, and what He wants us to be and to do, that we don’t compromise with partial obedience. Each of our lives is like a vessel that, like Noah, we are building day by day. We have a destiny to fulfil, but partial obedience will always mean that we’re never quite fit for th4e Master’s use.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for these powerful lessons from Scripture. I’m sorry, Lord, for times in my life when I have been less than wholehearted in following you and have, as a result, only been partially obedient. Forgive me Lord for this disobedience and help me to start again, with your help, and build the right vessel for the purposes you have for me in the future. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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Hi Liz,
ReplyDeleteAs we dig deeper into His Word, the more, we realise how far we are from the righteousness of God, despite we having the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. The easy way out, that some preachers teach, is that we are completely and at all time righteous, regardless.
While we have had the first justification which made us “alright with God” with regard to Original Sin and all sins committed up to the point of entering into salvation, anything we committed in thought or action, not according to the desires of God renders us disobedience and unrighteous, and it is sin. Disobedience is sin. Not in agreement with God is being unrighteous, and is sin. As a Christian, we, in fact, do sin a lot; and the Lord is fully aware of that. Yet, Scripture is full of exhortations for us to continue to press on, on the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8-10).
Our journey on this highway or Way (non-Christians are not on his highway) begins with our entering into salvation, and it is really a journey to live out the imputed righteous STATE. There is necessarily an outworking from the righteous state if we do have one. If there is no such outworking of righteousness or ACTS of righteousness or FRUIT of righteousness, the righteous STATE is suspect. It is NOT that Jesus is suspect, it is by our own living we have impaired the righteousness that Jesus imputed into us, in justification. Jesus' parable of good FRUIT (ACTS) coming from good TREE (STATE), and bad FRUIT can only point to the purported good TREE as being no longer good, is referring to such matters. Active righteousness or ACTS of righteousness tell on our STATE of righteousness (imputed or passive righteousness), and they are the outworking or FRUIT of righteousness necessarily coming from us, as TREE of righteousness, a planting of the Lord.
Because by UNrighteous conduct, we can impair the righteous STATE, we need to come to Jesus, over and over again, to be re-justified by Him. The Lord is aware of this, and that is why, He has left word that we, as Christians are still to over and over again (as in the Lord's Prayer, daily), ask for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 is precisely for this purpose, that by confession we can look to Jesus, to again (and again) refresh the righteous STATE in us. People fail to realise that when Jesus imputed His righteousness into us, we have to appropriate it as ours, and when it is ours, unless we die immediately, we have to live out that righteousness. God is just, yet God is NOT to be mocked.
Indeed we are not our own, and we are to live for God. For most of us, it is not easy, yet we are to understand that God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness, if we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). This is right theology of the faith.
Completely and at all time righteous, regardless!? That is Jesus, NOT you and I; in case, people want to hide under "we are righteous in Christ Jesus", look at what it means by “in Christ Jesus” – Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6). How did Jesus walk? He walked completely righteous with God. People who claimed they have arrived in this respect, are just proud, and are at enmity with God. The Christian’s life is a journey of imitating Jesus, growing in the likeness of Jesus; it is NEVER we became Jesus upon entering salvation. To be completely righteous with God is to flow with God in full agreement with Him, including in thought, in timing and in action. There are only 2 presently able to achieve that, they are none other than Jesus and the Holy Spirit, for they are God. Yet be righteous as God is righteous, yet be holy as God is holy. When you fall, ask for forgiveness, and press on.